Teacher Pay Inequities Within Districts Noted

California teachers serving poor communities with high percentages of minority residents are paid less than their counterparts in affluent areas with low minority populations within the same school district, a study concludes.

Produced by the Education Trust West, the Oakland, Calif.-based affiliate of the Education Trust, a national research and advocacy organization based in Washington, the study examines teacher pay in 12 districts in California. For example, within the 43,000-student Oakland Unified district, teachers at Lockwood Elementary School, which educates mostly Latino, African-American, and low-income students, are paid an average of $8,049 less per year than teachers at Thornhill Elementary, where the percentages of low-income and minority students are much lower.

The report said one of the major reasons for the pay inequity is that veteran teachers tend to move to schools in more affluent communities because those schools have fewer problems and better working conditions.